Monday, February 12, 2018
Elder of Ziyon
One of the more challenging aspects of dealing with BDS is
the number of Jews (including Israelis) who seem to be highly involved on both
sides of the issue. “Another Jew/Israeli
for Divestment” read stickers worn by several BDSers who cram most major BDS
events and votes, reflecting that many divestment groups not only include
Jewish members, but also have Jewish and even Israeli leaders.
Now I have many activist buddies who are driven to
distraction by the phenomena of Jewish involvement in organized attacks on
Israel and its supporters. And put a few
beers into them (or even some mild tea) and you’ll soon know the whole history
of Jewish anti-Semitism (called “self-hatred”), court-Jews, turncoats and
treachery that dates back to before Josephus threw his lot in with
the Romans, and continues to this day with academic “Wandering Jews” like Norman
Finkelstein.
While this history is interesting, I tend to take a more
pragmatic approach to the presence of my fellow tribesmen in the ranks of both
sides of the BDS debate. After all,
historic precedent would be useful if it provided an opening to educate (or at
least shame) Israel’s Jewish critics regarding the historic baggage they carry. But given the current company Jewish
anti-Israel activists keep, I don’t anticipate historic context would have much
resonance for them. And as for shaming,
as everyone reading this knows, the BDSers (Jew and Gentile alike) have no
shame.
In fact, Jewish and non-Jewish Israel-dislikers have far
more in common with one another than they do with me (despite all of their
speeches which begin “As a Jew…”). And
what they share is the one element that permeates all aspects of the divestment
debate: fantasy politics.
I’ve talked about fantasy vs. reality
with regard to anti-Israel politics in the past, and while most divestment
advocates share a common general fantasy (one where they are intrepid and
virtuous heroes, fighting against an all-powerful enemy which represses them),
flavors of that fantasy vary from group to group. At its most extreme, the jihadi Israel-hater
is trying to re-create a fallen Islamic empire purely through acts of will and
violence, just as Mussolini thought he could resurrect the Roman Empire via
fearsome will coupled with pageantry and tanks.
Christian divestment activists (like those in the
Presbyterian Church) do not go nearly to this extreme. But they still dwell in a fantasy world where
they and only they are in possession of “the truth” in which they liken the
Palestinians to Christ on the cross and thus see themselves as martyred saints
who are always about to be thrown to the lions.
The fact that this political myth-making has become its own form of
superstitious faith (with Israel Apartheid Week taking the place of a dustier
Easter they don’t really celebrate anymore) is lost on such people who lack,
along with a sense of shame, any sense of irony.
For the Jewish member or leader of Students for Justice in
Palestine (or whatever), the fantasy takes the form of being a truly
enlightened, morally superiority being whose distance from or rejection of the
burdens of Jewish life (whether religious obligations or a willingness to fight
for the political rights of the Jewish people) are proof positive of this
courageous identity. Like the Christian
BDSer whose anti-Israel animus demonstrates his or her Christ-like nature, the
Jewish divestnik’s fantasy-self is just the latest iteration of a Jewish
identity built on chosen-ness. The irony
that this anti-Israel Jewish identity shows more assurance in its own
correctness than the self-image of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi is again lost on
those who dwell in BDS fantasy-land.
And while Jews have excelled at anti-Israel organization
just as they excel at so many things, let’s not lose site of the fact that
there is a market for Jews of any level of intelligence and political skill
within the “I Hate Israel” movement.
Which is why any Jew willing to join such a movement “as a Jew”
(regardless of whether or not they have had a single Jewish moment in their
life up to that point) is welcome to sign up and wear a sticker or sign a
petition specifically pointing out the one quality that supposedly gives their
voice weight: their Jewishness.
Taking part in such activity also allows the fantasist to
celebrate his or her courage while actually not taking a single risk. For taking on “The Jewish Establishment” is
not like publishing a cartoon of Mohammed or (if you live in Gaza) criticizing
the government – an act that carries real risk of actual harm. In fact, the most these “Jewish Critics of Israel”
can expect from their activity is to be criticized by people like me. And as much as they try to present such
criticism as a form of censorship or repression, they must forever inflate the
alleged power and villainy of their critics, lest reality penetrate a single
ray of light into the fantasy world in which they dwell.
So my attitude towards the many Jews who flaunt their
Jewishness solely for the purposes of attacking other Jews is the same as my
attitude towards non-Jews who have turned lack of principle into virtue,
ignorance into wisdom and cowardice into courage. To them I would say: the next time you decide
you would rather live in fantasyland, could you please take up Dungeon’s and
Dragons, rather than embrace a persona that asks me to be a prop in your
fantasy and requires others (including Jews and Palestinians) to die in order
to maintain your self-image?
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